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Joel is an antifascist prisoner in Sweden. In July 2014, he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for attempted murder, violent disorder, and carrying an illegal weapon. The sentence followed a collective defense against a Nazi attack on an antifascist demonstration in Stockholm. The interview was conducted in the fall of 2014. Explanatory notes have been added.

You were sentenced in connection with an antifascist demonstration in Kärrtorp, a suburb of Stockholm, in December 2013. Can you tell us about that day?

During the weeks before the demonstration, there had been trouble in Kärrtorp and the (Read more…)

On March 8, following a week of action demanding a national inquiry into the at least 825 missing and murdered indigenous women across Canada, warriors from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory blocked the CN mainline. This action, which fell on International Women’s Day, came the day after the release of a Parliamentary report which attempted to dismiss and deny the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and prevent any meaningful response or action. This is a continuation of colonization and its inherent violence against Indigenous communities, particularly Indigenous women. For (Read more…)

The following is from a letter just received from Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party Prison Chapter. As previously reported here, Rashid was recently transferred from Oregon to Virginia, likely in retaliation for his ongoing work reporting on and challenging abuses by the prisoncrats.

As can be seen here, Rashid is once again being targeted for physical and psychological abuse, with the goal of “breaking him”, i.e. destroying who he is and reducing him to a compliant inmate of their torture system. Rashid explains:

The following is Geronimo ji Jaga’s intervention at a September 14, 2000 forum that Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) hosted during the Congressional Black Caucus’s legislative weekend in Washington, DC. It was initially included in a pamphlet published in 2001 by the Human Rights Research Fund (founded by activist attorneys Kathleen Cleaver and Natsu Saito) in collaboration with Release 2001, which was subsequently reprinted in full in the book Let Freedom Ring, available from Kersplebedeb Left-Wing Books.

This panel has established important truths already today, but there is one thing that has been omitted: the activists of the ’60s who were

Convicted of the 1983 U.S. Capitol Bombing, and “conspiring to influence, change, and protest policies and practices of the United States government through violent and illegal means”, Laura Whitehorn, an out lesbian and one of six defendants in the Resistance Conspiracy Case, spent 14 years in prison. “OUT” is the story of her life and times: five tumultuous decades of struggle for freedom and justice.

Radical human rights attorney Lynne Stewart has been falsely accused of helping terrorists. On Tuesday, April 9, 2002, she was arrested and agents searched her Manhattan office for documents. She was arraigned before Manhattan federal Judge John Koeltl. This is an obvious attempt by the U.S. government to silence dissent, curtail vigorous defense lawyers, and install fear in those who would fight against the U.S. government’s racism, seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free speech and defend the rights of all oppressed people.

This is an update about Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, a prisoner activist and intellectual who is currently in a dire situation in Snake River Correctional Institution in Oregon. As was reported last week, Rashid has been in the midst of a health crisis for almost a month now, which has included periods of severe disorientation. For a time he was refusing to eat or drink; as far as our most recent information if concerned, he is currently accepting liquids but still not eating. Rashid has spent most of his adult life in prison, and almost all of that time

This Friday at La Belle Epoque in Montreal, join us for a conversation about political prisoners, and a screening of the film Freeing Silvia Baraldini.

Friday, March 1st at 7pmLa Belle Époque1984 rue Wellington, Montreal, QuebecThis film documents the life of former U.S. political prisoner Silvia Baraldini. Silvia moved to the U.S. as a child, coming of age at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1970′s when hundreds of politically minded people folded back into the comforts of American society, Silvia deepened her commitment to revolutionary anti-imperialist struggle, becoming a national leader

Kevin “Rashid” Johnson is a New Afrikan Communist prison organizer and intellectual in the United States and one of the founders of the NABPP-PC (New Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter). He has spent most of his adult life in the prison system and continually been subjected to political repression and violence in retaliation for his organizing efforts. He is currently held at Snake River Correctional Inst in Oregon.

After a long and uncharacteristic silence in communication with him and no information on his circumstances – a supporter received the following letter from another prisoner:

In this interview, New Afrikan Communist Sanyika Shakur discusses his personal social development, his time in Pelican Bay-SHU, the 2011 California prisoners’ hunger strikes, the effects of long-term isolation torture, New Afrikan nationalism, communism, and the struggle against gender oppression.

In a biographical note written while in PB-SHU, Shakur explained: i was born Nov 13, 1963.

Raised in South Central Los Angeles, by a phenomenal single, working-class, mother. Cut my teeth in the hostile gang culture in South Central from the mid-70′s til the late 80′s. Was introduced to the New Afrikan Independence Movement, by way of the Spear &

This interview originally appeared in Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture, 5:2, 259-270. For a PDF of the interview, go here. It is also mirrored on the Kersplebedeb site here.

In the 1960s and 1970s, many activists looked to the prisons for political leadership, while viewing prisons themselves as institutions of repression and social control integral to larger systems of oppression. Around the world, the prisoner emerged as an icon of state repression and a beacon of liberation. If the prison served as the bricks and mortar of oppression, the prisoner became the flesh and blood of

Here it is again, a beautiful political calendar created by a Canadian collective working under the guidance and inspiration of u.s. PP/POWs David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell. Proceeds from this full color calendar go to the New York Task Force on Political Prisoners, the Palestinian NGO Adameer Prisoners Support and the Freedom Archives. This year’s theme is “Resisting the Rule of the 1 Percent” – here`s what the Certain Days collective explain in their introduction: “It may be cliché to say that we live in interesting times, but at this moment in history it is undeniably

Two years ago today, Marilyn Buck died of cancer in New York City; after decades behind bars, she had been released from prison barely a few weeks earlier.

As comrade Judy Greenspan wrote at the time:

Marilyn died today not in the hospital but at Soffiyah Elijah’s house, her close friend and attorney with her friends around her. The federal bureau of prisons and the U.S. Criminal injustice system killed Marilyn by denying her adequate medical care, careful diagnoses, and timely treatment for her cancer. They allowed the uterine cancer to spread until it was inoperable. And they made

I must admit that it is difficult for me to write an honest review about Com. David Gilbert’s “Love and Struggle” (you can purchase your personal copy here), especially because of the enormous respect that I have for him and the sacrifices that he has made for the revolutionary cause, and a fear that any criticism of his work will be regarded as unfair, un-comradely and disrespectful. However, simultaneously I believe that such a review is absolutely necessary because Com. David’s life and politics have often intersected at key points in my own development as an activist, although completely unbeknownst

On April 13, Philly celebrated the release of the book Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond, by David Gilbert, who is a political prisoner in New York State. (For more about David, click here!) The event, at Goldilocks Gallery, featured speakers, a short video tribute to David and the book, and a showing of a quilt made by imprisoned community members at SCI-Chester.

Thanks to comrades involved, videos of the speakers have been uploaded – i am posting them all here and also to my Love and Struggle events webpage.

Since 1967, it is estimated that approximately 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel as part of its repression of the popular resistance. As of March 2012, there were 4,637 Palestinians behind bars in Israeli jails, among them 5 women and 183 children. In addition, there are currently 320 Palestinians being held under six month administrative detention orders, without charge or trial, which can be and usually are renewed.

While imprisoned, Palestinian political prisoners from the West Bank face a

Here is the official trailer for David Gilbert’s Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond, recently published by PM Press. As many of you know, David is an anti-imperialist political prisoner serving a 75-year-to-life sentence in New York State – he has been locked up since his capture in 1981. (For more about David, click here.)

Some comrades of David’s put together a youtube video trailer to accompany the book, to give a taste of what it’s all about. Enjoy.

There have been book launches and discussion groups across the united states

David Gilbert mentions the documentary film The Weather Underground by Sam Green and Bill Siegel, released in 2002, on the very first page of his book Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond. Gilbert relates how the film has made many activists of a younger generation aware of his case, leading to very rewarding and inspiring correspondence. Fittingly, my own awareness of David Gilbert’s role in the Weather Underground and of his subsequent involvement with the Black Liberation Army is strongly tied to watching the

Jalil Muntaqim has been sent to the SHU on a bogus charge (see below). Comrades from Jericho are asking that people speak with their own organizations and ask them to write or call the folks below to get Jalil out of the SHU and if possible a transfer to another facility.

The following report is from a friend of Jalil’s who visited him on Saturday January 29th:

On Monday, [Jalil] was taken down to trial regarding the photograph that was “recovered” in his cell (the photo was from Cetewayo’s memorial held at Hunter College this past March, in which a BPP banner

From coast to coast, in canada and the united states, here is a list of event around the recent release of political prisoner David Gilbert’s book Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond – please get in touch to organize an event in your area – or if you’re already organizing a launch which you don’t see listed here, email: FODGWest@gmail.com or info@kersplebedeb.com. This list will be maintained and updated on the Kersplebedeb website at http://www.kersplebedeb.com/davidgilbert/ls_events.html Wednesday, January 25MontrealWhere: La Belle Époque, 1984 rue Wellington (metro Charlevoix)When: . . . → Read More: Sketchy Thoughts: North American Events for David Gilbert’s Love and Struggle

This from comrades at Jericho: We received a call Friday morningfrom Jalil Muntaqim to advise us that his cell had been raided onThursday, January 5th.(Attica,NY) When Jalil asked why his cell was beingsearched, he was told it was because “something happened in California.”The COs confiscated pictures of the memorials for BPP members Cetewayo(Michael Tabor) and Bro. Mark Smith “Smitty” of New Jersey. Jalilreceived a Tier 3 ticket for possession of these photos. Of course, thesephotos had been sent to him by mail and had been approved in the prisonmailroom. Jalil is not in the

In the case of former US citizen, George Wright, Portugal’s Supreme Court ruled to deny an appeal made by the US Justice Department, shortly before Christmas. With its appeal, registered four weeks ago, the USA was seeking the extradition of the former Black Panther Party militant. A court in Lisbon had already refused extradition, November 17, 2011. The court’s refusal was based on Wright’s valid Portuguese citizenship. Wright has been living with his Portuguese wife for more than 20 years near Lisbon, under the name Jorge Dos Santos